Obviously all of the focus on the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team hasn’t been for the right reasons. Yes the question does remain whether the allegations are true. But tonight, it was UConn’s chance to prove that the accusations wouldn’t matter.
While they did struggle a little bit at times, the distractions proved to be a non-story as Craig Austrie scored 17 points to lead the No. 1 seed Huskies to a 72-60 win over the No. 5 seeded Purdue Boilermakers in front of 20,102 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ to advance to the Elite Eight.
The Huskies (30-4) await the winner of the Memphis/Missouri game that is currently being played right now. The young Boilermakers finish up the season at 27-10 and with most of their team back next season, they could be a force to be reckoned with in the Big 10 and on the national stage.
Hasheem Thabeet had a good game for the Huskies tonight as he picked up a double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds and added four blocked shots. Despite a poor shooting night (5-for-15), A.J. Price also finished with 15 points and also had 4 rebounds and 7 assists while Stanley Robinson also had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds.
For a while the only offense the Boilermakers could muster up was from the hands of Robbie Hummel who led them with 17 points. The only other player in double-figures for Purdue was JaJuan Johnson who had 13 points and 7 rebounds while Lewis Jackson chipped in with 8.
This was a much different game than we saw out of the Huskies in the first two rounds. Purdue plays great defense and this game was definitely owned on the defensive end with both teams clamping down at different periods of each half.
The Huskies started out quickly as Robinson scored 6 of the first 10 points as they raced out to a 10-2 lead. UConn pushed the lead to 14-3 before Purdue started to chip the lead down eventually getting it to 3 points at 26-23 on a Hummel 3-pointer. The Huskies eventually took a 30-25 lead into the locker room.
As I said above, the only reason why the Boilermakers were in this game was because of the play of Hummel, who was playing with a fractured vertebrae. The Huskies really had no answer for him and fortunately enough for them they were able to keep the lead behind the play of Austrie and Thabeet.
Purdue stuck around early in the second half but the Huskies used a 8-0 run to open up an 11 point lead. But the Boilermakers wouldn’t go away, as they cut UConn’s lead down to 4 points on the strength of a 7-0 run.
The Huskies then pushed the lead back up to 8 points and got it up to a 12 point lead at 57-45. Purdue would get no closer than 8 points the rest of the way.
Jim Calhoun should be very happy that Austrie found his shooting touch tonight as Price and Jeff Adrien had off shooting nights. The foul-line jumper wasn’t falling for Adrien while Price was having trouble getting free from the grasps of Jackson and Keaton Grant.
Robinson also stepped up huge in the second half on the defensive end of the floor as he had the assignment of covering Hummel. He shut down Hummel who had just two points in the second half which was the big reason why the Boilermakers couldn’t get over the hump when they got it close in the second half.
I was impressed with the Boilermakers tonight as they are a solid defensive team. Since they are graduating only two seniors, I expect them to be contenders next year. UConn will need to play just a little better than they did tonight as Memphis or Missouri also both play good defense.
Notes and musings:
Purdue Boilermakers vs UConn Huskies West Region Sweet 16 box score
The starters were A.J. Price, Craig Austrie, Stanley Robinson, Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet.
Hasheem Thabeet went over the 1,000 point mark for his career in the game tonight.
The Huskies shot 44.6% (25-of-56) while Purdue shot 36.4% (24-of-66).
UConn had 19 assists on their 25 made baskets.
The Huskies were 19-of-30 (63.3%) from the foul line which isn’t that great but they did hit their free throws down the stretch when it matters.
Purdue committed just 9 turnovers while the Huskies had 13.
